New MCEC Congregations!

We celebrate two new congregations within MCEC! In October 2008, The Church of the Living Word in Ottawa and the Markham Christian Worship Centre officially came into fellowship with the MCEC community of congregations.

We will receive and welcome them at the April 2009 MCEC Annual Church Gathering. Both congregations have been exploring and strengthening their relationships with MCEC as they have walked with sister congregations and the MCEC mission council. The Church of the Living Word in Ottawa has a close relationship with the Ottawa Mennonite Church and the Markham Christian Worship Centre with Wideman Mennonite Church, Hagerman Mennonite Church and Markham Chinese Mennonite Church. In October of 2005, The Church of the Living Word in Ottawa began meeting in various homes as a group of believers. Members are predominately from the countries of Ethiopia and Eritrea and speak Amharic. With a strong emphasis on Bible study and on the nurture of children, The Church of the Living Word in Ottawa extends the peace of Jesus Christ to the Amharic speaking community in Ottawa, ON. Markham Christian Worship Centre began meeting in 2001 and since then has grown from five people to approximately 75 persons in regular Sunday attendance. Many members are Tamil, originally from Sri Lanka, and are of Hindu background. A thriving hospital ministry and senior home ministry provide Markham Christian Worship Centre with many opportunities to be a presence to other Tamils in the Markham, ON area. These two congregations strengthen the multicultural fabric of the MCEC community. MCEC now worships in 12 languages: Amharic, English, French, German, Hmong, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin, Spanish, Tamil, Cantonese, and Thai. This rich culture of people together forms the community of congregations known as Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.